"Glow Girl" / The Who / Who Sell Out (reissue) / MCA:
What's more perfect than a song about a woman going through her bag as her plane is going down, then being reborn as a baby boy? (Do you get to watch her in the afterlife on an IMAX screen? Sorry, inside joke. - Ed.) If you ask me, it's the plane crash. The more I fly, the more I realize how much I don't like flying. There is something unnatural about it, and every bump of turbulence has me gripping the armrests. Yet until the US gets high speed rail service, air travel is the quickest way to get from point A to point B.
"Only When I'm Drunk" / The Alkaholiks / 21 and Over / Loud:
Our flight left Chicago Midway Airport at 7:40 AM. Already one of the passengers was drunk. Once the seat belt light went off, he was walking up and down the aisle of the plane casting about for someone to talk to. From the bits of conversation I overheard, he was pulling up stakes and moving to Vegas. I wonder if he made this plan before or after the Southern Comfort?
"10 Feet High" / Blonde Redhead / ...La Mia Vita Violenta / Smells Like Records:
This is the ruling design aesthetic of Las Vegas. Everything is larger than anywhere else. It's not Paul Bunyan-size, but it's not far off.
"Hot Rod Hotel" / Billy Bragg and Wilco / Mermaid Avenue II / Elektra:
I'm sure that the large casino/hotels are making money, but what about the small places tucked away on the side roads off the Strip? We walked and drove past a number of these smaller motels and hotels as we went from convention hall to hall. I don't think the economic boom of a modern Vegas has ever filtered down to most of them.
"For the Heads at Company Z" / Jungle Brothers / J. Beez Wit the Remedy / Warner Brothers:
This is one of the most confusing songs in my record collection. This is how I felt after our first day at NAB. The sheer volume of equipment and people was overwhelming.
"Water" / Mos Def / Black on Both Sides / Rawkus:
Standing on the walking bridge of the Bellagio trying to figure out the depth of the fountain/pond in front (figure it's about 1.5 meters deep), this song came to mind. Las Vegas's casinos illustrate the politics of the song perfectly.
"10 O'Clock Your Time" / The Waxwings / Low to the Ground / Bobsled:
Las Vegas is two hours behind Chicago, time-wise. As we were walking the Strip, I stopped in front of the New York, New York Hotel to call my wife before she went to bed. Due to a biker convention in town, I had to scream into the phone to overcome the noise of a small fleet of Harley Davidson bikes standing at the stop light. Because of moments like this, I still get a kick out of cell phones.
"Come to the Party" / KRS-ONE / I Got Next / Jive:
Film and video equipment is the most expensive stuff on the planet. Forget about earthmovers and mining trucks, because when you can pay US$75,000 for a video camera the size of my 17 month-old daughter, nothing else can really compare (What about diamonds? - Ed.). As such, film and video resellers want to butter you up to keep you buying. One of the resellers we deal with at work, Roscor, had a big shindig at the Imperial Palace. I am never one to turn down free seafood and an open bar. As a side note, I think this is an underrated song. Its simple, but effective.
"Midnight Shift" / Los Lobos /Not Fade Away / Decca:
Every door in a hotel in Las Vegas either leads into or creates a direct view of the casino. It's an attention to detail I almost admire. As we returned to our hotel after the Roscor party, the casino that had been fairly empty all day was now full and moving money. After observing how to play the game, Beej and I decided to try our luck at roulette. I lost ten dollars, but Beej made away with twenty. Yes, high rollers we are.
"Sunburn" / Muse / Showbiz / Maverick:
Sure, take a bunch of people who work inside all day in front of computers and TVs and drop them in the middle the desert to walk around from hall to hall. I'm now a red neck.
"Frankly, Mr Shankly" / The Smiths / The Queen is Dead / Sire:
What's a worse job: Being a model in one of the booths with men ogling you all day with video cameras, or being one of the people handing out brochures for strip clubs outside the convention hall?
"Divorce" / Quicksand / Manic Compression / Island:
Eating lunch under a false sky at a restaurant in a fake plaza in the Venetian hotel has to be one of the most disconcerting experiences I've ever had. It's just enough reality to trick you, but fake enough to make you realize what is going on.
"Definition of a Fool" / Tribe Called Quest / Peoples' Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm / Jive:
Does Southwest Airlines attract these people or what? On our return flight home, the drunk multiplied into three twenty-something women and one of their mothers. The flight attendants cut them off midtrip and the entire plane spent the rest of the flight hearing about it.
"The End" / The Doors / The Doors / Elektra:
Coy it may be, but this is the song playing on the radio when I got into my car in the lot.
| 
